Latest Articles

The word on relatively green cars and positively green bicycles

Hy-wire act. Photo: DOE. My daughter Maya, who is 9, saw a picture of the General Motors Hy-wire, the company’s super-sleek experimental fuel-cell car, and immediately decided we should have one. Unfortunately, I had to explain to her that the hydrogen-powered, zero-emission, fossil-fuel-free car would be perfect for us in all respects except one: It’s […]

NPR: One Thing Considered

Pristine Petroleum Reserve in Alaska Opened to Oil Drilling Try as it might, the Bush administration hasn’t been able to get its hands on oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Perhaps to make itself feel better, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management is forging ahead with plans to permit aggressive oil drilling in large […]

You’re Under Cardiac Arrest

Heart Disease, Not Respiratory Illness, Is Main Danger from Air Pollution Air pollution may actually be worse for your heart than for your lungs, according to new research published in the American Heart Association’s journal Circulation. A 16-year study found that long-term exposure to particulate matter in polluted air is more likely to cause death […]

Deck the Hauls

U.S. High Court Will Hear Mexican Truck Pollution Case The U.S. Supreme Court announced yesterday that it will wade into a dispute over whether tens of thousands of highly polluting Mexican trucks should be allowed to cross the border and deliver goods throughout the U.S. The Bush administration, arguing the free-trade point of view, welcomes […]

Danny O’Keefe, Songbird Foundation

Danny O’Keefe is founder and director of the Songbird Foundation, which works to raise awareness about conservation of migratory-songbird habitat, particularly in coffee-growing regions and urban areas. Monday, 15 Dec 2003 SEATTLE, Wash. As usual, the day starts with that first cup of sustainably grown coffee, in this case a home-roasted espresso comprised of a […]

One Final Squeeze

Last Chance to Take Part in the Grist Grapefruit Challenge It’s the very last day of the 2003 Grist Grapefruit Challenge — mere hours left for us five Grist staffers to subsist only on grapefruit, and mere hours left for Grist readers to contribute toward our goal of raising $35,000 to help hire an additional […]

Green Eye for a Great Buy

Demand Rises for Recycled and Organic Home Products The hot gift this holiday season (in our humble, green-leaning opinion): anything recycled or organic. Demand for home products made from recycled or organic materials grew by 66 percent in 2001 and continues to rise, according to research conducted by New Hope Natural Media in Boulder, Colo. […]

Coming Clean

Strange Bedfellows Push for Clean Energy in Canada Some of the biggest polluters in Canada are teaming up with enviros to make the case that the nation could produce as much energy from renewable sources as it now does from fossil fuels and nuclear facilities. Today, three oil companies — Suncor Energy, BP Canada, and […]

Bicycles Shanghaied

Shanghai Bans Bicycles from Major Streets Shanghai, China, whose streets once teemed with peddling people, will ban bicycles from most major thoroughfares beginning next year. It’s a dramatic (and, many say, depressing) shift for a city that was home to some of the nation’s earliest bicycle factories. Now, Shanghai has become a center of China’s […]

Erik Ness reviews Silent Scourge: Children, Pollution, and Why Scientists Disagree by Colleen Moore

Attention, parents: Now that you've seen your kids' first report cards of the year, it's time for a little homework of your own. No doubt you're doing the best you can to ensure your little ones' eventual membership in Mensa -- promoting stimulating dinner conversation, reading a chapter together each night, maybe even playing Mozart during bath time. But wait -- there's more. You'll find your next assignment in the pages of Colleen Moore's Silent Scourge: Children, Pollution, and Why Scientists Disagree.